In the May 11 & 25 SN: High-tech cricket farming, AI learns from Minecraft, looking for lithium, a new hominid species is named, signs of life in dead pig brains, Cherokee cave texts decoded, water molecules on the moon and more.

Interstellar chemistry makes use of quantum shortcut

Reactions in the frigid cold of space are sped by a physical quirk, researchers propose

Molecules floating in the dark, cold vacuum of interstellar space can exploit quantum mechanics to react and produce more complex chemicals, a new study suggests. Researchers explain the reactions using a quirky property of quantum physics, which may be a key cog in the cosmic assembly line that churns out intricate organic molecules, including those necessary for life.

Astronomers have long known that stars manufacture chemical elements, but it’s only recently that researchers have discovered complex organic molecules floating around in clouds of gas and dust in space (SN 1/30/10, p. 26). The formation of these chemicals, which include alcohols, sugars and even an ingredient found in tar, is hard to explain because molecules in space should very rarely collide.

Last year astronomers discovered a molecule called methoxy, or CH3O, in a gas cloud. It forms when hydroxyl (OH) and methanol (CH3OH) react. Yet that reaction requires

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